Agent 00Soul

From a player's standpoint, I eagerly took up the bass (which I preferred) in 1984 after a year on the guitar. However, even after I became competent, I could not get a sound I liked. Too much treble and twang and I gave up after a few years. In the 1990s, another bass player told me the reason: I wasn't using flatwound strings. He was right, I returned to the bass is my 20s and never looked back. Why didn't any of the bassists in my school, my teacher, or the music books I had mention flatwounds except as this extinct thing that was killed by the monsters of rock in the late 60s? So narrow minded! I was a teenager in the 1980s in suburban New York. From a listener's standpoint, he main thing I remember musically from that period was there was very much a split between those boys (and it was boys) who listened to classic rock/hair-metal/prog vs the fans of new wave/synth-pop. The punks were doing their own thing and were split between those who followed modern US hardcore vs those who liked vintage British stuff. And their were random weirdos like me who also loved 60s Garage (NYC had a huge garage scene in the 80s).

The are really great for hard rock. It must be the pickups. They distort really nicely with an overdrive pedal too.

I just remembered on more that I learned years later when I started recording regularly: try to track the bass part, or at least the final bass part, last. It gives you the most room to be creative with bass lines and sounds if you a slaloming around the other parts in the songs. I'm aware that this doesn't work as well in every genre.

Here is a classic I THINK he's on this famous TV theme too

My discovery of who Herbie was and appreciation of his bass chops and sound initially came from all that fabulous library music he made in the 60s and 70s, especially the stuff with Alan Hawkshaw. Back in the 1990s, those songs actually became trendy dance music too.

I'm a lefty. My first guitar teacher (he also was my first electric bass teacher a year later), asked me how left-handed I was. When I told him I was very lefty and not really ambidextrous, he suggested I simply learn the guitar playing lefty. Otherwise he was worried that the first few months would be taken up with simply learning coordination rather than making music and I would give up in frustration. It had happened to him a few times before and he learned his lesson. Such a wise thing to say because I know myself much better now and I would have indeed have given up too soon. The added bonus is that the lack of lefty instruments is a great G.A.S. reliever!

This! The whole "She Who Must Be Obeyed" thing in some of these musican's boards over the past 20+ years is so common that it's become a trope. No idea how serious the people writing it are. I don't see it on the socials - perhaps that's because they have a younger demographic. I think I would be out of any relationship where something like this was happening pretty quickly 💥

That's a good point. I used to get a similar sound by plugging into a Fender Twin Reverb. It was too twangy with not enough low end for full-on Gainsbourg ("L'anamour" is a fantastic song btw), but you can get channel some retro style by using a classic guitar amp in the studio instead of a bass amp.

The Melodie Nelson bass line is one of those unicorns isn't it? It's also one of those rare moments where the sound is so famous, it's a shorthand. Say Melodie Nelson bass and many people know exactly what you mean. A few years ago, I was in the studio and a song had a perfect opportunity for one. I couldn't ever sound like Dave Richmond did in 1969 or whenever, but we wanted to channel the vibe. We used a Fender Jaguar bass strung with oldish flats and played with a pick and some palm muting plugged directly (no fx for once) into a 1959 Fender Bassman modern reissue and turned it up to the edge of distortion. The rest was the bass part and the engineer's fingers - doing whatever they do. It was one of the loudest instruments in the final mix too - I think that's also one of the important things. Not nearly as special as Richmond, but the feeling and reference were clearly there. People in the know said "Melodie Nelson bass" when they heard the song.

I love this amp model. Bought one used right here on Basschat and can't imagine life without it at this point. I can't believe I never had one before.

I have a pedal board with around 10 stomp boxes. So when I am starting with a new project, it can take a while to dial everything in. And it can't really be done at home at practice volume only in rehearsal at gig level. I take pictures with my phone to remember the settings once they are dialed in. After a while, I get used to everything and it becomes default. It also means things can be tweaked on the fly in recording sessions quickly. (It's been a long time since I've played in a non-effects heavy band so I kind of forgot how to do the plug and play thing for better or worse.)

I've gotten used to instruments not being available for lefties and am normally pretty sanguine about it. But I have to admit, the look of that bass stirred covetous feelings. I'm not sure I could stay away if they made something that looked so cool left-handed.

Warmoth make better Fender-style bodies and necks than Fender does!

That reminds me of something one of my 20 year old summer interns said to me. After a few weeks on the job she turned to me and said, "Adulting is really boring, isn't it?"

10 way? Nice!

That's one nice bass! Mid 70s Fenders and their CIJ descendants are my favourite sounding of all the periods they were made. But I've never owned one because they are so heavy!

That is one of the coolest basses I've ever seen. Fender should issue it as one of the Alternative Dimension series. (or whatever it's called)

I've had this late sixties Jazzmaster since 1984. It became so infamous in my high school, where most of the other guitars were neon painted Charvel or Jackson super-strats for shredding, that it got a special farewell in the school newspaper when I graduated.

I'll definitely try one out because it's always been on the wishlist to play one. Unless they are already pre-sold to other lefties for whom this was always the one that got away and won't even be in the shops.

Makes me think of people like Billy Childish or The Kaisers.

What don't you like about Jefferson Airplane?

That's a good word for it: punchy. Also the word I would use to describe Thomas' sound on the Costello songs. Also, it's the loudest pickup out of all my instruments.

Not sure if you've ever tried one of the Precision Elites from that year. My friend had one at the time and I thought it was the coolest. Of course, I was 15 and didn't have much experience so no idea what I'd think of it now.